Norisring, Germany - Rain in the morning and a track which was drying out provided plenty of action in the first qualifying session at the Norisring (DE). At the 2.3-kilometre street circuit, times were falling with each lap completed, meaning that deciding the starting grid for the first race went down to the wire.

In claiming sixth place in the Nürnberg (DE) rain lottery, Augusto Farfus (BR, 50.876 seconds) in the Shell BMW M4 DTM was the best-placed BMW driver. At his home event, DTM champion Marco Wittman (DE) qualified eighth. By qualifying in tenth, Martin Tomzcyk (DE) was the third BMW driver to make the top ten. Christian Vietoris (DE, Mercedes) will start from pole position after setting a time of 50.640 seconds.

Bruno Spengler (CA), Maxime Martin (BE) and Timo Glock (DE) qualified in 13th, 14th and 15th. Tom Blomqvist (GB) and António Félix da Costa (PT) occupy positions 17 and 18. All 24 cars qualified within a second of each other.

Quote from the best-placed BMW driver.

“We were showing good pace in practice and it was important to put a perfect lap together. If it hadn’t been for that small mistake I made, I could have fought for pole position. Lap times are always tight here. This is how we must move forward. The race is long and you just have to get through it. With our car, the potential for a strong result is definitely there.” – Augusto Farfus (BMW Team RBM, 6th place)

Facts and Figures:

Circuit/length:
Norisring, 2.3 kilometres

Conditions:
Heavy cloud, 19 degrees Celsius

Pole time:
Christian Vietoris (DE, Mercedes), 50.640 seconds

BMW Motorsport results*:

#18 Augusto Farfus (BR), BMW Team RBM, Shell BMW M4 DTM
50.876 seconds – 6th place

#1 Marco Wittmann (DE), BMW Team RMG, Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM
50.965 seconds – 8th place

#77 Martin Tomczyk (DE), BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM
51.088 seconds – 10th place

#7 Bruno Spengler (CA), BMW Team MTEK, BMW Bank M4 DTM
51.152 seconds – 13th place

#36 Maxime Martin (BE), BMW Team RMG, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM
51.198 seconds – 14th place

#16 Timo Glock (DE), BMW Team MTEK, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM
51.236 seconds – 15th place

#31 Tom Blomqvist (GB), BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM
51.283 seconds – 17th place

#13 António Félix da Costa (PT), BMW Team Schnitzer, Red Bull BMW M4 DTM
51.326 seconds – 18th place

Useful information:

After a little more than half the session was complete, the track was dry enough for slick tyres.

In the 20-minute qualifying session, the 24 drivers completed over 500 laps of the 2.3-km circuit.

For the second time this season, Augusto Farfus was able to qualify within the top ten. The same is true for Martin Tomczyk, and this was Marco Wittman’s third top ten qualifying result.

The fifth of this year’s 18 DTM races begins at 16:45hrs local time.